Friday, April 1, 2011

run away

You know you live in a small town when you can't even run away from home

This morning when we were getting alpacas ready to go to the vet, we had an escapee. Our guardian dog, Spot, got loose. As is typical for Spot, he is very friendly and always wants attention when we are out in the barns and pasture. But if he gets loose, he is on the run! This morning he took off at such a pace I could not catch him. We had to leave for the vet, so my Father-in-law said he'd keep his eye out for Spot.

When we got home from taking the alpacas to the vet, we heard that someone had taken Spot into the local vet's office (the vet we were at is in Coopersville, several towns away, the local vet does not care for alpacas). As it turned out, a family friend was at the local vet's office and happened to see Spot come in with these people who said they had found him. They had him at the vet to see if he was micro chipped. It turns out Spot is micro chipped, but he was still registered to his former owners. Our friend was able to tell them that Spot now belongs to us. The people who found him live just down the road from us, and were kind enough to bring him back home. Our immediate neighbors already know Spot, unfortunately now it appears neighbors further out are meeting him too.

This has made us come to the realization that Spot needs more land to run on. Our farm isn't very big and the area that Spot is in is only a portion of our land. He's a big dog, he needs to have a job, to have work to do, and we aren't providing him with enough to keep him happy. He's an excellent guardian, but he needs to be needed, and our small area doesn't really require his work. For this reason, we are actively seeking a new home for Spot. He has to be on a working farm with herd animals. While he has always been around alpacas, I think he would do fine with sheep also. The essential thing is that he needs a large fenced in area where he can run and work and be happy. He is absolutely not a house dog. If you or anyone you know are interested in an experienced guardian dog for your working farm, please contact us.

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Oak Haven Alpacas, LLC, & Oak Haven Sheep, LLC

The Adventure of a Lifetime

Our farming adventure began with the purchase of 3 alpacas in the fall of 2007. This eventually grew to an alpaca farm that birthed 23 cria. While we averaged 20 alpacas on a farm at any given time, we hit a peek of over 30 alpacas. We were involved in every aspect of alpaca farming: from breeding decisions, birthing, to attending alpaca shows, and shearing our own alpacas along with making product from their luscious fiber (hand spinning yarn and knitting product). We participated in 24 alpaca shows, and became very involved in the alpaca community.

In 2013 we added hair sheep to our farm.

Throughout this process we continued to tweak and revise our business plan. Our business plan evolved over time, and in 2013 it became clear that our goal was to raise grass fed animals for human consumption. While the initial plan was for this to go along side of alpaca farming, we slowly came to the conclusion our adventure was going to take us somewhere else.

In 2013 we began to sell off our alpaca herd to begin our new adventure with grass fed sheep and cattle.

Our adventure is still unfolding, so please, join us in our adventure of a lifetime as our journey unfolds.